As the son of Neil Finn and nephew of Tim Finn, the brothers who played in Split Enz and Crowded House, Liam Finn was perhaps fated to follow in his family's musical footsteps, but he chose to take his own idiosyncratic path. After playing in the alt-rock band Betchadupa, Finn set out onto a solo career with 2007's I'll Be Lightning, an album that established him as an indie pop singer/songwriter as invested in sound as he was song. From that point forward, he punctuated his solo albums with collaborations, both with like-minded peers like Eliza Jane Barnes, and his own father.

Born in Melbourne, Australia on September 24, 1983, Liam Finn first began playing music as a child, picking up guitar and drums. He played both instruments on his father Neil's solo debut Try Whistling This, which appeared in 1998, a year after he formed Betchadupa with Matt Eccles in 1997. Betchadupa released an eponymous debut EP on Flying Nun in 2000, which was quickly followed by the 3D EP in 2001. The full-length The Alphabetchadupa appeared in 2002, reaching number two on New Zealand's charts. A second album, Aiming for Your Head, was released in 2004 before the band relocated to London, a move that swiftly resulted in a split.

Liam Finn launched his solo career in 2007 with the release of I'll Be Lightning. Recorded entirely on his own, I'll Be Lightning established Finn as a distinct, idiosyncratic musician, and its supporting tour helped introduce him to audiences around the world, including a spot opening for Eddie Vedder's solo tour in 2008. Finn followed I'll Be Lightning in 2009 with Champagne in Seashells, a collaboration with Eliza Jane Barnes. The pair also joined Lawrence Arabia and Connan Mockasin in BARB, who released a self-titled album in 2010.

Finn returned to his solo career in 2011 with FOMO, which found him strengthening his pop songcraft. Following its release, he moved to Brooklyn, where he made his third solo album, 2014's The Nihilist. In 2018, he composed the soundtrack for On Top, a documentary by Susanne Bartsch. That same year, he collaborated with his father Neil for 2018's Lightsleeper. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi